


This Side Of Venus

by lordbatty



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Afraid of coming out, Best Friends, Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Romance, Friends and Family - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Issues, Margo Diaz - Freeform, Misgendering, Multi, Name Changes, Other, Polyamory, Running Away, Slow Burn, Teen Romance, Tomgo, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Marco Diaz, Trans Tom Lucitor, gender name change, tomco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23264206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordbatty/pseuds/lordbatty
Summary: What do you do when you're a teenager facing a gender identity crisis knowing damn well that no matter what, your friends and family would more than likely accept you entirely?Well, if you're Marco Diaz, you run away.
Relationships: Angie Diaz/Rafael Diaz, Marco Diaz & Angie Diaz, Marco Diaz/Tom Lucitor, Margo/Tom, Star Butterfly & Angie Diaz, Star Butterfly & Marco Diaz, Star Butterfly & Tom Lucitor
Comments: 28
Kudos: 170





	1. These Last Few Weeks Have Been Exhausting

**Author's Note:**

> A NEW FIC? Yep. I've been working on this in the background after my wife suggested "Hey. Like. What if Marco ran away because she was afraid of coming out to everyone, but she didn't do it for long and she KNOWS that everyone will love and accept her, PROBABLY, but she's still too afraid. And then she just . . . runs away to Tom and Tom's like HELL YEAH I WANNA HELP YOU RUN AWAY AND ALSO HELP YOU THROUGH THIS?!"
> 
> So... what did we do? Naturally, we started a roleplay, and then I decided this was going to make one EXCELLENT fic. And so here we are xD
> 
> I don't have a whole lot to say about this one other than what I prefaced above with how the idea got started, other than this is going to be a lot of good, and a lot of depth paired with fluff and lightness. 
> 
> Enjoy, and happy reading! ♥  
> ___________________________
> 
> (Songs for this chapter: “comethru” by Jeremy Zucker, & “If You Met Her” by Palehound)

_Dear Mom, Dad, & Star: _

_I don’t know how many times I have tried writing this letter. How many times I’ve restarted, and how many papers I’ve crumpled up only to be thrown away. At home, in school . . . I think I even wrote a few notes in my phone at one point and deleted them._

_None of them ever came out right. My words never really sounded like they made sense in all of those old letters. Maybe this time will be different._

_I know I haven’t made much sense since my birthday last year. I didn’t even seem to enjoy it. At least, that’s how I felt. I don’t know how it looked to everyone._

_And the truth is, I haven’t FELT right since then. Or maybe it was right around that time when it started. Maybe I always felt this way, but I just . . . I don’t know. Never really pieced it together._

_I don’t feel right. I don’t feel GOOD. And ever since last November, I feel like my mind is spinning wildly out of control. I feel weird when people touch or hug me. I feel envious when I see a new dress Star brings home. I feel . . . so many things and nothing at the same time. It’s confusing, it’s unreal, and it’s terrifying. As if being a teenager wasn’t hard enough._

_Words are starting to hurt where they hadn’t before. Sentences are becoming weights sitting in my chest. The taste of who I am is bitter. Things that I hadn’t thought twice about before, I’m replaying over and over in my head like a broken record. Most nights, I don’t sleep. I’m too busy thinking of ways to get this out, and hoping that it’s going to turn out okay. Most nights, I’m just too exhausted TO sleep._

_I don’t know if I’m scaring anyone else or just myself. I might be doing both, but some days when I force myself out of bed and into clothes I no longer feel are my own, I tune the world out. And sometimes, there’s some unseen force tuning it out for me by shoving my head underwater and everyone above me just sound like a garbled mess under the waves. I think I failed a math test last week, but I can’t remember. I think I accidentally hit Jackie in the face with a dodge ball during gym and got detention for it, but I can’t tell if that had been a dream, or real. And I'm pretty sure that Jeremy kicked my ass again during my last class, but would that actually be the end of the world anymore? And I’m almost extremely sure that I’ve been listening to Star when she talks, but is it really here nor there? I just can’t remember._

_It’s like I’m losing time. I’m losing days, I’m recounting last year, and I’m stumbling through this one. I’ve never missed a day of school or karate class in my life, but I want to. I want to just stay in my room, stay in bed, and let the world continue without me in it for a little while. I want someone to beat up the person who’s holding my head down under the water and pull me up for air. I want to be alone . . . but not._

_And I know that the only person at fault here is me. If I keep going through my days, weeks, hours, and months like this and never say a single word, then how is anyone going to figure it out and know how to help me?_

_But that’s the problem: I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going in my own head, with my own feelings. So how am I supposed to know about everyone else? My heart keeps telling me to trust everyone. That I don’t have any reason not to trust them. I have great friends. Amazing parents, too. So why wouldn’t I want to run to them when the first feeling of something being wrong pops up? It shouldn’t be that hard for me. I should know better by now. All of these crazy things Star and I have been doing and been through. All of the support, all of the advice from friends over the years both in my own hometown and dimensions beyond that . . . it should all still be very much the same._

_I don’t know why it doesn’t feel the same. I can’t put it into words. And I don’t want to dig around in my brain enough to try._

_Star, you have your own secrets closet buried deep with this and that and things that you might have never even known to be there before. You might close that off and never look at it because it’s easier to forget than to sort through it all and find out things that you know you’d have been better off knowing, and you have. I don’t think we’ve ever touched it since that day I got stuck inside. And now I can definitely say believe me: I know how that feels._

_But these days, I think I much rather be sitting in YOUR secrets closet than my own._

_I’m not even getting to the point with this letter, but I’ve gotten farther than all of my previous attempts at writing one. They all started out wrong; I would jump right to the point without even explaining myself first. And that just felt too harsh and unfair. I don’t want to be harsh and unfair, because I know on the outside that’s how everything has been coming out. I don’t want to be that person, and I never have been._

_I’m sorry if this is hard to swallow. It’s even harder for me to come around. I must have practiced this a hundred times both in front of Star’s mirror and in lying awake in my bed night after night. I must have rephrased my words in more ways than I had ever done with trying to talk to Jackie. I must have had, when I could finally fall asleep, so many dreams of how this would end up going for me. And like I said, I don’t know how many letters I started and threw away, only to start again and get overwhelmed._

_Then I would spiral back into my tornado of a too-crowded brain and an aching heart. Another night of untouched dinner and sleeplessness would follow after that. And I definitely know that you have all noticed that at least._

_I guess I want to just say sorry. It seems like I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Sorry for not being present. Sorry for not listening. Sorry for seeming distant. Sorry for . . . everything. When I shouldn’t be sorry for anything, except for the distance and tuning out of the world. That I SHOULD be sorry for. I never wanted to be a bad friend. I never wanted to be a bad son._

_But that’s the problem._

_I’m not your son._

_And I don’t want to be anymore._


	2. Hoodies Are Good For Hiding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “Before the World Was Big” by Girlpool, “Pray For Me” by You Me At Six, “Young” by Frankie Cosmos, “Be Your Own 3AM” by Adult Mom, & “Casual Affair” by Panic! At the Disco)
> 
> Thank you so much already for those who have read the first chapter! This is just getting started, and it's going to be a whole lot of feels while we start getting to the good parts! 
> 
> Enjoy, & happy reading! ♥

Being seventeen was hard. Any teenager could tell you that, no matter what their walk of life was. Nobody had a manual for growing up, and nobody had directions for how to  _ be _ a teenager to begin with. Never mind being a teenager with more problems than you knew how to balance and work through.

And lately, Marco Diaz felt like there was way more on the plates in  _ both _ of her hands than what she’d bargained for over the past two years. Between helping her best friend with all of her princess business, battling bad guys, going to school, going to karate lessons, and a blurry sixteenth birthday, Marco found herself piling on more than she could handle. 

At least, within herself anyway.

As she grew older, and taller by the way, Marco found other aspects of her life falling away from the ideas that she once had at fifteen. The future that she saw for herself, and all of the ideas a teenage boy should have had quickly became a thing of the past. The pining for most near anything Star wore grew stronger. The bracelets on Jackie Lynn Thomas’ wrist became more noticeable to Marco. The dance studio across the street from the strip mall karate dojo began to tug at her heart strings. Everything in her closet was distasteful. She began to feel blocky and awkward, refusing any removal of the assortment of red hoodies cluttering her closet.

All the while, her eyes envied those of her best female friends from a distance. 

Days were becoming exhausting, and most of those days Marco found it hard to think. The world was too big all of a sudden, too noisy, and too  _ expected _ . She was seventeen now, and that meant graduating from Echo Creek high school within the next year. Expectations for almost-seniors were higher than ever, and everyone was asking her the  _ wrong  _ questions. Saying the wrong things. Calling her the wrong everything where that hadn’t bothered her before. Those days were the worst. Because having lived with Star for two years, Marco had learned how to tune things out over time. It became scarily easy, and when the tuning out became a case of complete zone-outs, it started to become a scary feeling.

Especially when she would snap back to reality, the all too concerning faces of Jackie, Star, Janna, Oskar, and really any of her friends began to send shivers up her spine. Marco would miss out on whole conversations, trying to tune the world out and hide herself up into a familiar red hoodie. And she knew that was no good. She was scaring her friends, and probably her parents. But no matter how the words sat on her lips, she couldn’t bring herself to say them.

It never seemed the right time. Even when someone would ask her if she was okay.

The plethora of red hoodies became the only comfort Marco could count on, for now. They hid the very worst parts of her that she’d slowly begun to hate. Sometimes the jeans helped, but they were still too loose fitting. Sometimes her fingertips would brush over Star’s bedroom doorknob, when she wasn’t home just to even maybe get a  _ feel _ at what lay in her best friend’s closet, always seeming so near. Just on the other side of that door, but still somehow out of reach.

Marco could never seem to bring herself to do it.

Being a teenager, it was one of the hardest things Marco found herself ever having to do. Being a teenager, who was hiding who they  _ really  _ were, and trying desperately to sort through the piled up laundry in the deepest corners of her head and chest was even worse. Especially when trying to do it alone.

And not for nothing, Marco  _ knew _ in the very bottom of her heart that it wouldn’t be all that bad. Star was one of the most supportive, loving, and excitable friends she’d ever had. Life was just as boring before Star entered her life two years back, and they had just about shared everything together, if not more. There had been nothing that they couldn’t share with each other, and this time should have been no different. Marco knew that Star could tell she was hiding something. Star must have said it at least twenty times in a single week that they could talk about anything together if Marco needed it. 

And oh, how cruel did those words slam into her chest. Because Marco knew how well her best friend meant. She knew Star was worried, probably a little more than anyone else. She  _ knew  _ she should have been able to tell Star anything and everything with no judgement or fear. But that was the problem.

Marco was very much a terrified and lonely feeling teenager.

She decided after nearly two weeks of her head becoming more of a jumbled up mess that she couldn’t seem to quiet that she needed only one thing.

She needed quiet. Time to think, time to talk to whoever would listen when that long forgotten, ever growing pile in the corner could be addressed, and time to just be alone. But  _ not  _ alone at the same time. 

Marco decided after a particularly hard and far-away day that she needed to run away. Not forever, just for a day or two. Just for a little while until she could feel like a human being again. Because with each passing day, she was starting to feel less and less like a human and more like an extra body that was just, well,  _ there _ .

And all the while, through hazy vision, Marco could read the concern on her parents’ faces. She could see it in Star’s eyes whenever they talked. She could hear it in Jackie’s voice over the phone. She could read it and feel it in text messages from Janna. What’s worse, she could even sense the frustration and concern from  _ Tom _ whenever they would talk. 

The fact that she had declined an all-day Mackie Hand marathon in the Underworld with Tom (which, by the way, Marco was  _ sure  _ that Star had set up just to see if maybe even Tom could get through to her), might have been a bit too much of a step into the wrong direction. And when Tom had tried to fish a reason out of her, Marco couldn’t so much as utter out a single  _ “I’m just tired” _ , which had been ninety-percent of her answers over the last two weeks. 

The tone that had come out on the other end of the conversation from Tom nearly made Marco feel worse. She’d heard and seen what it looked like for Tom to feel like his heart had been broken several times. But this time? It felt even worse. 

Because she was the reason behind it.

Marco must have thought about this plan a hundred times over the span of two days. During school, during dinner, during Star and her many ramblings, during kicking bad guy ass, during karate practice . . . honestly, there wasn't a moment where Marco  _ wasn't  _ thinking of her plan. Running away was new territory for the self proclaimed ‘Safe Kid’, but lately, it didn’t seem like such a bad and dangerous idea. 

The problem was that Marco knew she was probably being ridiculous; overreacting, even. But she was exceptionally good at that: overreacting. She did it often, and did it well, and on more than one occasion, people usually would let her know it. And while Marco knew that her parents were the absolute best parents in the world and there hadn't been a single thing so far in her teenage life that she had done to make them disappointed, there was still that seed of uncertainty and doubt.

Marco  _ knew  _ the type of people her parents were: wholesome, loving, and supportive of literally everything and anything her or Star ever did. So why was this so different? Why did it  _ have  _ to be so different?

And all of her friends? Equal ground. The most supportive, and loving cheer squad that Marco knew she could ever ask for. 

So much so, that at first Marco thought that maybe Oskar would have been the best option to start first. He was extremely chill, calm and collected nearly ninety-nine percent of the time they’d known each other. It seemed, for the moment, the perfect plan. 

And for a while there, Marco had found that she’d almost made it through a complete, soul-bearing sentence. But then she became nervous again. She’d fumbled over her words so much that Oskar had begun to get sidetracked with lyrics and a brand new keytar.

The world around Marco, once again, fell flat at her feet in that moment and then the whole cycle had started anew again. So much for that plan; Oskar would have been the most relaxed and chill way to start this, other than Jackie. But Jackie was a much different playing field, and she was without a single doubt not ready for that conversation to happen with the girl she’d once crushed on, then fell flat on her feelings after her sixteenth birthday.

So Marco decided finally that she was going to go somewhere else. And that somewhere else was undoubtedly the  _ last  _ place in her grand plan she would’ve ever considered before. But she was out of ideas, and desperate … and there was an infinite world of dimensions at her fingertips. She literally could go  _ anywhere  _ she wanted to.

Running away never looked, or sounded, so tantalizing. But first, she needed a way to  _ get  _ there. And there was only one way in and out of a dimension of your choosing: the oh so famous inter-dimensional scissors.

Which Star had a pair, or more, on hand. 

But that also meant that Marco knew she was going to have to  _ ask  _ for some. And that also meant providing an explanation, knowing her best friend wasn’t just going to agree to something without playing twenty questions. That was definitely one of the many well-known qualities about Star: always be suspicious and ask questions. Or maybe that was just a future Queen quirk. Either way, Marco knew she was going to be in even hotter water than she’d already put herself in, and she needed to have every damn near good excuse she could think of to follow the ask to borrow.

Lying, especially to people she was close with, had never been one of Marco’s strengths.

So it came upon the night before Marco decided to execute this horrible runaway plan, and once again found her fingers hovering over the door handle like so many times before. She had painted her nails before braving those first steps outside of her own room, something to help calm her anxiety down a notch.

It wasn’t anything too crazy, just a small black bottle of polish that she’d picked up sometime last week during a mall trip with Jackie and Janna while Star dealt with some Mewni business. It had subtle hints of glitter mixed in, which if you caught it in the absolute right light, it would sparkle in a galaxy-full-of-stars type of way. 

And every time those subtle sparkles caught her eye, it made Marco’s heart feel just a little bit lighter. Baby steps, she had reminded herself. Baby steps were going to make this whole process that much easier . . . in time.

“Star?” Marco felt as though her voice was a million billion miles away, and it made the anxiety crushing feeling in her chest grow. As if someone was squeezing her heart so tightly it would eventually pop. “Can I come in for a minute?”

The door had opened abruptly at the question, making Marco retract her hand back with a light jump. And suddenly, she was looking at her best friend who had already piled her hair up into two tightly wound buns, and settled into a very comfortable looking pair of pink-and-white striped pajama shorts paired with a bright yellow short-sleeved crop top. 

The unbearable pang of jealousy and doubt rose in Marco’s chest, an all too familiar and unwelcome feeling that had been plaguing every second of her life lately.

“You don’t have to ask, Marco,” Star was just a couple inches shorter than her now, but they somehow still were always able to be eye-to-eye with each other no matter how the other stood. “You know you can just come in when you want to, right?”

“I- well I didn’t know if . . .” Marco stumbled over words, interlocking her fingers together with each other before biting down on her lip, brown eyes shying away from blue ones. “If you were busy, or not dressed yet or anything. I figured I’d just . . be polite first and ask?”

“Hmm,” Star crossed her arms, eyes shifting up towards the ceiling in thought. “Good point. Anyway, yeah! Come in. I don’t think I’ve seen you in my room at all in the last two weeks actually.”

Concern dripped from her words as Star swung the bedroom door open wider for Marco to step inside. Her eyes housed that same concern, but were as bright and friendly as ever. This shouldn’t be that hard, but Marco couldn’t help the rising anxiousness that was beginning to squeeze at her lungs and make her stomach twist into an unforgiving knot.

“I like your pants, are those new?” Star commented as she closed the door, walking back over towards her best friend with a finger pointing to the purple plaid pajama bottoms Marco wore with a red pocket t-shirt.

“Oh, uhm, yeah,” Marco stumbled again, looking down towards her feet. Another subtle purchase she had made the same day she’d picked up the nail polish. She’d been waiting for a chance to wear those, too, and the night before a runaway plan seemed to be about as good as any. “Thanks.”

“So what’cha need Marco?” Star stretched her arms up above her head walking towards her bed. In all of the changes that had happened around her in the last two years, Star’s room had  _ not  _ been one of them. Maybe just a touch more teenager-y than before, but still filled with nearly every color of the rainbow, unicorns, bunnies, kittens, stars and sparkles, and literally all of the clothes, makeup, and princess decorations you could ever hope to fit into a single space. 

The knot in Marco’s stomach showed no signs of recoiling anytime soon.

“I have a favor to ask,” Marco finally spat out, hoping that she sounded as casual about this as she wanted to be. “I need to borrow your scissors. Or  _ a  _ pair if you have any spares. I think at one point you wound up hoarding a drawer full of them in the closet.”

“Hey!” Star sat on her bed with a finger pointed in Marco’s direction. “It’s not hoarding if nobody wants them and you keep losing your own. That, and you never know when you need an extra set for a rainy day.”

“Even if they’re someone else’s?” Marco raised her eyebrow, a small smile finding its way across her face.

“Not if they don’t want them!” Star tossed her hands up. “There’s a difference, Marco. A big  _ BIG  _ difference.”

_ ‘A big difference’ _

Marco bit down on her bottom lip softly, looking down at her black galaxy painted fingernails as they sparkled gently under the brightness of Star’s bedroom. 

“Alright, alright, I get your point. So can I borrow some or not?”

“Sure,” Star stood up, making her way over to the massive closet that housed the very dresser Marco had mentioned.

And for a split second, Marco couldn’t believe that Star wasn’t asking why, or for that matter, what had happened to her own scissors.

“Wait a second,” Star popped that bubble of relief as she opened up the drawer full of multiple colors and styles of scissors with countless unrecognizable crests and symbols. “What happened to  _ your _ scissors?”

“Uhm,” Marco felt the blood rush to her face, cheeks burning hot at the question she was hoping to avoid. Fact is, she knew exactly where her own scissors were. They were shoved at the very back of her dresser, where not only could she easily bury them and never look at them again, but also where nobody else would think to search, either.

The fact was, she couldn’t even stand to look at them anymore, much less  _ use _ them. They didn’t feel like  _ hers _ anymore. And with each use since her birthday, it felt as though they became more and more of an unwanted and unfamiliar weight in her hand. The worst part was that, until she was ready to show herself to the rest of the world, there was no way that she would be able to get to Hekapoo for a corrected, more suitable pair.

If she could even  _ do _ that.

“I-I’m sure they’re in my room somewhere,” Marco tried to shrug as casually as possible, hoping with every anxious beat of her heart that her words weren’t coming out completely cracked under the pressure of lies that had started to build.

Star’s eyes narrowed, crossing her arm over her chest with an unsure expression, but decided to leave it alone. She lost things all the time, so who’s to say that Marco wouldn’t do the same from time to time? 

“Soooo . . . are you, like, planning a runaway princess type trip or something?” She tried directing the conversation jokingly, leaning against the white wooden door frame of the closet, her arm gesturing to the open drawer that Marco was currently going through.

Marco felt like her heart and stomach were twisting and compressing themselves so hard, she felt like she was going to have to call an ambulance once they burst. “Ha! Haha, that’s - that’s funny Star.”

Star raised an eyebrow then, pushing herself off the door frame, slowly walking over to her best friend. “Are you okay? I mean . . . you’ve been a little, well, strange lately. I mean stranger than usual. Not that you’re  _ strange _ , you’ve just kind of been . . . different. Especially after your birthday last year. I mean, I dunno, Marco, I just feel like you’re keeping something from me. Some days you just seem so . . . so  _ sad _ , you know?”

The words hit Marco in the chest harder than she expected. Star sounded so genuine, so concerned for her best friend, and nearly just as sad  _ for  _ her. It made Marco feel guilty, the heaviness that had already been in her chest spreading and growing heavier. In the back of her eyes, she could feel the threat of tears. If she didn’t get a grip on herself now, Marco knew that she’d end up a crumpled mess on the floor, finally crushed under the weight of all she’d been keeping inside since her sixteenth birthday.

And as relieving as the idea felt, Marco found herself rejecting the idea that this was the right time. Even though the feeling in her chest told her the complete opposite.

“You know what,” Star finally said with her hand up, after seconds of silence between them while Marco felt frozen in a corner. “You don’t have to tell me anything. You - you just do whatever it is you have to do with a pair of Interdimensional Scissors. And when you’re ready, you’ll talk to me . . right?” Her voice sounded so hopeful, so full of warmth and compassion. She knew that her best friend was in some kind of teenage trouble. And while it may not be end-of-the-world trouble or dimensional trouble, it was enough to change Marco drastically in such a short amount of time. And while Star might have felt a little betrayed at the thought of her best bestie keeping something from her, she also knew that sometimes, you just have to work through things on your own first.

And that, for Star, was a very hard thing to follow along with.

“I will,” Marco replied softly as she dug around inside the drawer for a pair of scissors that spoke to her, but also with confidence pulled right out from somewhere in her head. “I promise, Star. Just . . . I need you to trust me first. Okay?”

“And I do,” Star responded, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. “I just, I don’t know. Wonder if you trust  _ yourself _ sometimes.”

Marco froze again, the words sinking in her knotted up stomach and staying put. Star was right. Sometimes, Marco herself wasn’t even sure about some of the things she said or did. Trusting other people was easy for her. Trusting herself has proven itself to be kind of hard lately.

“Just know I’m here for you, okay Marco? No matter how long it takes,” Star offered to her friend, a small but warm and passionate smile pointed in Marco’s direction.

So with a pair of shimmering rainbow-titanium colored scissors with an all-too befitting ballet shoe crest in between the blades, Marco flopped down into her bed with a growing ache thudding against her rib cage in time with her heart. 

This was such a stupid plan. Then again, who ever said that teenagers were filled with bright ideas, anyway? 

So with her hands both gripping tightly onto the scissors that eventually would lead her to a quick moment of relief, Marco squeezed her eyes shut and let both the heavy weight in her chest and the stinging of hot tears sweep her up into yet another night of unwelcome dreams, and restless peace.


	3. Extreme, the Highs & Lows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “demons”, & “runaway” by Hayley Kiyoko)
> 
> I've been doing a lot of filler chapters, which re-arranges the chapters coming after it a little bit, but I honestly don't mind xD that just means more for everyone to read!
> 
> So while this chapter wasn't exactly planned beforehand, I wound up writing it and having it work out perfectly before jumping right into the next part. It was a pretty good preface, so I'm glad I went with it!
> 
> Enjoy, & happy reading! ♥

**9:55pm**   
_Tom🔥_ _  
__hey, Marco? is everything alright? It’s been a few days since we last talked, and i haven’t really seen you, well, you know. talk in the group chat. i guess . . . i just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Star’s worried about you. and i think i might be, too._

**9:59pm  
** _Jack🐚_ _  
__Hey, Diaz, it’s Jack(ie). Listen, I don’t know what’s goin’ on lately, but you know you can talk to me, right? When you’re ready. You don’t gotta, but, I thought maybe the sentiment would help. Or at least give you the chance to talk if you wanted or needed to. I mean, I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you need anyone, you got me. I got your back, you know, Marco . . . no matter what it is. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world in your arms alone. Okay? ♥_

**10:15pm** **  
** _JanJan⚰️_ _  
__Listen, marco. I’m no good at these feelings type things, but uh … i’m a pretty good listener, dude. if ya need two totally non-judgemental ears, i’ve got em.  
_

**10:27pm  
** _MusicMan🎹_ _  
__Heeyyyyyyy Marcooooooo! It’s me, Oskar. Well, duh. You knew that, I think. Anyway, I totally noticed you’re like, super bummed out lately. I think I heard Jack and Star mention how strange you’ve been acting, too. They’re super worried. I think you should, like, totally talk to them. Or you know, I’m always pretty chill, I’d like to think . . . anyway, I find songs and like, letters are the best way to get a lot of feeling out, you know? Maybe you could give it a shot._

**10:44pm  
** _Princess Ponzz🍸_ _  
__Okay, Marco, for REALS listen to me: you be scarin the horns and tails and pants off of every creature and human being in every dimension lately. Haven’t seen Princess Turdina in like, MONTHS, gurl. What’s gotten into you, Marco? You know I ain’t the type of pony to get all feelsy and deep, but you’re really worrying everyone, gurl. And if you can’t talk to your best bestie, then who ARE you gonna talk to? Think about it, okaaayyyy?_

Every message read like a stab through her already bleeding heart. A million thoughts and words ran through Marco’s head. Things she could say, and thoughts that she could share. 

It wasn’t that she was completely oblivious to the worry. She _knew_ that everyone was worried about her, and that they would tell her right away. It was just coming around to it all that was the hardest part. Finding both the words and energy to answer her friends without spilling out a short life-time of secrets, anxiousness, and confusion.

Every buzz of Marco’s phone with a new message had interrupted her sleep. Bleary brown eyes would read over each message, only to hover her trembling thumbs over the keyboard before tucking the phone back under her pillow, falling back asleep. 

Until the next message came. And the next . . . and the next. As if the restless night’s sleep wasn’t already enough to turn her brain into a far off, misty cloud just waiting to rain over the mountain tops, the messages were making her feel worse. 

The fact that she couldn’t even bring herself to type back a single word weighed guiltily in the pit of her stomach.

But then Marco’s sleep-deprived heart strings tugged at around midnight, quietly staring down at her phone pulled out from under her pillow. The dimmed down backlight stared right back at her with only one chat pulled up.

_Tom’s._

Out of all the people who had messaged her, she’d brought the demon prince’s up first. And she couldn’t explain why.

With a heavy sigh, Marco scooped her phone up into her hands while tiredly turning onto her back for better ease of typing. She didn’t know why she was doing this, but it was too late to turn back now.

 **12:27am  
** _Marco🥋_ ** _  
_**_I don’t know, Tom. Just . . . tired. I guess. . .  
  
_

 **12:28am  
** _Tom🔥_ _  
__you seem to be ‘just tired’ a lot lately, marco. and while i fully believe that you should really talk to star about whatever it is that’s bothering you, i want you to know that you can come to me, too. if - if you need. but you don’t have to. just . . . just know that you’re not the only person in the world. or in any dimension. you don’t always gotta do things yourself. just remember that if you need to talk, i’m all eyes AND ears.  
  
_

 **12:31am  
** _Marco🥋_ _  
__I’m just . . . I don’t know. Feeling bad. All the time, lately. And I don’t know how to, I guess, say it. Or talk about it. I don’t know what I’m doing inside my own head 90% of the time. So how am I supposed to let someone else know?  
  
_

 **12:35am  
** _Tom🔥_ _  
__trust us? i mean, i get it. it’s hard to talk about your feelings and to get help. you know I know that better than anyone. but it’s also never going to get better or work out if you don’t. i know we’re all trying to help and get inside your head to help, but we’re not the ones who have to make that decision. you are. and if you keep telling yourself you’re never going to be ready, then all of those feelings you’ve been bottling up and keeping to yourself are going to turn into chaos and you’re going to explode.  
  
_

 **12:37am  
** _Marco🥋_ _  
__It’s hard.  
  
_

 **12:39am  
** _Tom🔥_ _  
__and i don’t doubt that for a second. listen, being a teenager is hard, marco. but if there’s something that’s just too big for you to carry alone, then it’s going to be harder. i don’t know what you’re going through inside your head, but i can probably guarantee that it’s a lot less worse than your thoughts are making it out to be. and i know we can’t push you to do something that you’re not ready for, but . . . eventually, it’s going to affect your life. i don’t want to see it do that, coming from a place where my anger outbursts affected EVERYTHING. don’t shut everyone out forever, marco. you can’t afford that.  
  
_

 **12:44am  
** _Marco🥋_ _  
__I’m sorry, Tom . . . I’m . . . I’m going to try and get some more sleep before I have to drag myself to school in the morning . . . or wind up being late._ **  
**

 **12:47am  
** _Tom🔥_ _  
__okay. but maybe we can talk some more tomorrow or something._

Marco’s eyes darted to the nightstand beside her bed, where the borrowed titanium ballet crested scissors sat ready for the day ahead. And once again, the plan ran itself over through her head once, then twice, and then a third time before the tiniest irony of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips while she typed her last message for the night, eyelids heavy as they pleaded for some sleep.  
  


 **12:49am  
** _Marco🥋_ _  
__Sure. We’ll talk . . . soonish._ _  
__Night, Tom._

**12:52am  
** _Tom🔥_ _  
__night, marco. i hope that you get some rest. seems like you could use a lot of it these days…_


	4. If It's Not In Vain, Let Me Hear You Say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “runaway” by Hayley Kiyoko)
> 
> Sorry for the wait on this chapter! I've been working on future chapters here and there and binge watching a couple of things over the last few days, then dealing with headaches. 
> 
> In any case: Enjoy, & happy reading! ♥

_7:45AM_ was the time displayed on Marco’s phone, sitting atop the kitchen table right beside her mostly untouched and mostly soggy bowl of cereal.

She’d barely heard the _Good morning!_ calls of her parents as she made the mostly numb and anxiety wrenching descent down the steps. Dressed in a pair of jean shorts that were rolled up just above the knees, a pair of black and red knee high socks, and a brand new fitted ombre black-to-red hoodie, it was an all too new and foreign situation for Marco to set herself up for. She’d stepped right out of her comfort zone without a second thought with her new choice of clothes, and it definitely would warrant noticing from everyone.

Only, she was too anxious and blurry feeling to notice that neither Star, nor her parents for that matter, had really made a big deal out of it. She also didn’t notice the positive compliments her best friend and mother had been giving her that entire morning on having something new to wear. Her mother had even made the comment on how nice it looked on her.

But Marco, too focused on her closeted emotions and spinning head, didn’t hear a single word. Things that would have all made her not want to run away anymore.

She also didn’t seem to notice the worried looks her parents had exchanged with Star as she pushed away the untouched breakfast and stood up. “Come on, Star, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now,” Marco had said, grabbing her phone off the table. 

Even her own voice sounded as though her head was being forcibly held underwater while she tried to talk. The blood pumping in Marco’s ears was unbearable, and the nauseating ache in her stomach begged for food to settle all of those boarded up emotions taking up an unpaid residence in her chest.

They would walk to school together in mostly silence. Star, knowing that there was seriously something up with her best friend, didn’t want to push Marco over any of the edges she might be standing over. And Marco, just wanting the anxiousness to go away once she reached school, kept quiet . . . even though she wanted to scream out into the world just so she could finally be heard. The need for release was so blinding, it made Marco hurt all over. 

She’d never skipped school before. After all, for her entire life, she had always been dubbed as the ‘Safe Kid’. A little goodie two-shoes as Tom loved to point out every chance he got. She never missed a last minute call bell, she never arrived late into a class, and she never got called to the principal’s office for trouble. And now here Marco was, staring down the road of skipping everything altogether. Even her karate class, to which, she had also never once skipped a day in her life. 

Suddenly, Marco felt like she really was spiraling out of control of her own life.

And while Star had ran ahead to catch up with Jackie and Janna, Marco took up an occupied space closest to her first class. It would be easy to not walk in once the bell rang. She had the best hiding spot in the entire school: right behind a row of lockers that, unless you were wandering down the long stretch of hallway yourself, you would absolutely miss even a trash can hiding around that corner. She would stay here, in the solitude of this corner, and wait until there was nothing but distant voices behind closed classroom doors. Then, she would make her long trek across the football field to her left, and off of the school grounds completely.

What Marco _hadn’t_ counted on was just how stupidly easy it was to skip school. It almost made her wonder why she hadn’t done it before. But that was the moment she realized why Janna had always just _done it_ all the time, then landing herself in detention. It was just _that_ simple.

Marco wished the rest of the world was just as simple as skipping school.

She’d climbed and jumped over the chain link fence on the outskirts of the football field rather easily, and after a couple of steps in the opposite direction of her house, Marco was wandering the sidewalks of Echo Creek with hardly a person or otherworldly dimensional creature in sight.

Solitude. Just like she wanted.

And Marco would keep wandering, red earbuds stuck in both ears as the comfort of music guided her wandering mind and pounding heart until she would decide to use the borrowed scissors tucked safely in the right pocket of her shorts.

Marco spent the better half of that entire morning ignoring her phone, other than scrolling through her many playlists. From the time she and Star had walked to school, all the way through up until now had been spent walking; wandering all around Echo Creek, further and further away from familiar places, and an old bedroom filled with secrets awaiting her return.

But now Marco was trapped. Her absence had been noticed all too quickly and before she knew what was happening in between shuffled playlists, she was trying to come up with words to send back to the sudden spamming of missed texts from Jackie, Janna, her mother, and now Star.

A whole three hours had passed since arriving at school, and Marco hadn’t even noticed up until now. 

_Everyone_ was wondering where she was, and if she was okay. The throbbing in Marco’s heart became more painful, her stomach twisting in knots the further she walked. Leaving school grounds was the easy part. The rest of the plan, not so much. But she couldn’t go back now; there was too much to explain, and not enough courage to pick up a piece of the packed-on pile in her brain to go for it.

Trying to come up with the perfect time to just cut open a portal and land into the familiar bedroom without fumbling through an excuse or blindingly letting out everything she had been bottling in her chest for the past two weeks, Marco suddenly found that she’d walked right out of Echo Creek altogether and was now looking at the city limits sign.

Turning her music off, Marco yanked the earbuds out and shoved everything into the pocket of her new hoodie, an ever growing pain in her chest telling her both to go back, but to also keep going.

She’d made it completely out of her hometown. What was a little dimension hopping _now_ going to hurt?

And right then is when Marco made the decision. With anxiousness piloting her consciousness, and the familiar feeling of teenage determination in her chest, she carefully reached into the pocket of her jeans, and pulled out the rainbow titanium ballet crested scissors she hadn't entirely been truthful with Star about needing to use.

After two years of interdimensional travel, Marco hated to admit that she still didn't quite have a handle on using these things. Especially in times like this where her anxiety skyrocketed, it made it hard to focus, but she would do her absolute best to get to where she needed to go.

No . . . where she _wanted_ to go. Her heart skipped a few beats at the thought of what she was about to do, and _who_ she was about to go to.

Now was definitely not the time for teenage girl crushes.

“Okay, Marco, just . . . focus,” she whispered, gripping the scissors tightly into both of her hands. “You know. The spinning wheel of torture and death, the bean bag chairs, the ping pong table, the lava falls - wait, no not the lava falls, you don’t want to land into one, think of something else. . .”

***** ***** *****

Tom had woken up that morning like any other, although he _had_ stayed in bed for just a little longer than he should have with Marshmallow comfortably curled up in the crook of his neck. But in knowing how impatient both of his parents would end up being if he didn’t get up and start the day, Tom eventually found the motivation to slump out from under the covers, though not at the mercy of a now disturbed and upset bunny. 

And not a moment too soon after Tom had done just that, rubbed the sleep from all three of his eyes and then stood on his toes for a much needed stretch, a demon servant was already knocking on his door. 

_‘Oh joy.’_

Expectantly, just like every single day of his life since he’d turned fourteen, Tom’s parents wanted him present for breakfast, cleaned up, fully dressed, and ready for a morning of responsibilities. “You know, like how teenagers are supposed to live their life?” Tom mumbled to his bunny now happily sleeping atop one of his many pillows.

“Oh right, I don’t exactly _have_ that normal teenager life,” he grumbled in continuation, snapping one of his silver studded black leather bracelets onto his wrist. “At least not during the weekdays anymore.”

But to be completely honest, Tom actually wasn't _that_ busy, even with being prince and future king of the Underworld. It just _felt_ like he was always busy, and was always being pulled into this direction or another. 

Preparations for meetings, gatherings and parties he wouldn't attend but still had to sign his name on the invites for, while on the other side there always seemed to be a plethora of some sort of ball that needed his attention and attendance, _without_ having a date to bring he would then in turn remind his parents. Which was embarrassing enough as a teenage boy on its own; never mind being a _prince_ without a dance partner. That was just downright humiliating enough to last for the rest of Tom’s life, plain and simple.

Breakfast had gone on as normal, his parents talking about some current events and plans, bringing him into the conversation once or twice before he was sent off for other duties where he would spend the rest of his morning. It never felt like anything super important, so Tom had learned over time to tune out most of it, spending the entirety of most meetings and routines just nodding and sighing before he would finally be able to sneak off and breath. 

Lately, there never seemed to be enough time in the day, even for Underworld time, to just have a second for himself to just _think_ . Especially about what _he_ wanted for once.

Being released for the rest of the day never felt so _great_ to Tom as it did today. Sure, he was used to this every single day, but there was something different that the teenage demon was feeling. As if something was going to happen, and his entire day would spin around on its head. He at least hoped, if he was right, whatever that feeling was would bring him something new and exciting. Something that would put a little pep into his otherwise super monotonous day.

Going back into his room to change into a pair of ripped up black jeans, and a red-violet top with the sleeves ripped off, Tom was already planning to head off somewhere for lunch, even though he would be alone on this endeavor. 

Star was, no doubt, already doing her Earth school thing, and along with her would also be Marco, or any of the other friends on Earth that he had for that matter. And everyone else in other dimensions that he knew far and wide? Probably just as wrapped up in their day of duties, normalcy, and the same old To Do lists as he had been.

“Well,” Tom sighed, dropping an arm down at his side, all three eyes fixed on a still-sleeping Marshmallow, all the while fidgeting with a recently pierced silver hoop to the right of his bottom lip. “Guess it’s a lunch date for one again, huh?”

Not waiting for an answer from his therapy pet, Tom shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and began to make the ascent on rocky stone stairs that led out of his bedroom.

And just as Tom had his hand on the door handle, the all too familiar sound of an interdimensional portal being torn open immediately redirected his attention.


	5. Just Say the Word, We'll Take On the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “Take On the World” by You And Me At Six)
> 
> I'm so excited for the next two chapters! Lots of Tomco is about to happen, and even more wonderful relief for poor princess Marco!
> 
> This fic has opened up an entire new world for me, with a canon divergence timeline that I may expand on with writing in the future so long as my brain allows it. I never dreamed that writing this would have so much come out of it, but I've been having a great time with it, and it's made my heart just feel so GOOD.
> 
> Enjoy, & happy reading! ♥

Unless you were from one of several thousands of hundreds of dimensions, you probably wouldn’t get going through portals right on your first try. Or your second time, or your third . . . or in Marco’s case, two years later into all of these magical ups and downs. 

Even though she always knew  _ exactly  _ where she wanted to land, the process of gracefully stepping through and coming out on the other end smoothly always seemed to fail her. Not like Star. But then again, Star was born into that world and Marco still had a whole lifetime ahead of her to learn things.

And this time was no different. Which was unfortunate, seeing as how Marco was wearing rolled up jean shorts, which resulted in treating her poor exposed knees to an immediate kiss onto the rough, heated rocky floor beneath her as she took her ungraceful tumble through the other side. Her hands quickly followed suit as they also met the floor, her borrowed scissors tauntingly skittering halfway across the room as she fell.

"Are you  _ kidding  _ me? Smooth, Marco, real smooth," she mumbled to herself as she got back up onto her feet, knees red and throbbing as she brushed off the little bits of dirt and coal smudges. “The one time I decide to wear something different, of course.”

Tom was, for lack of a better word, absolutely flustered as he’d watched Marco trip over herself exiting the portal that came into his bedroom. Filled with bursts of excitement at the sight of his best friend and worried for the tumble that she took, Tom tried desperately not to laugh as he rushed down the stone steps. 

But as the demon hurried back to the center of his room, his stifled laughter came out in a couple of held back snorts through biting down hard on his bottom lip. Shaking his head, to rid himself of anymore laughter, Tom quickly stepped over to Marco’s side, grabbing her arm to further assist her back upright. 

"Dude, you gotta be more careful." Tom said, a small snicker escaping his lips before he could hold it back. He then cleared his throat, smiling smugly, gesturing around his room. "You could've landed in one of my lava pits or something,”

He then took a step back to give her space, still smiling while placing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He looked her up and down for a moment, taking in the new outfit and glittering black nail polish. This was definitely not typical of the Marco he knew before, but she was getting older, and maybe finally stepping out of her comfort zone of wearing new things. It was nice, and Tom really liked how it looked on her.

"Nice outfit, man. We'll have to get you some horns too at some point,” Tom finally commented smoothly, a wide grin tugging at his lips.

It took a second for Marco to collect herself and see that Tom was eyeing her with all three eyes for a moment. She felt embarrassed, her cheeks growing warm as she was suddenly made very aware of the situation. She slouched at first, tugging on her hoodie with both hands in the pocket trying to hide as much of herself as possible.

But then Tom had given her a compliment. And at first, Marco felt the warmth begin to spread in her chest. How quickly that disappeared the moment she realized his words. Specifically  _ ‘dude’  _ and  _ ‘man’ _ . 

And while Marco knew that she shouldn’t be angry  _ at _ Tom simply just because he didn’t know, it didn’t matter. Anger and frustration held hands with a stabbing to the heart, and the twisting of her stomach. Hot tears threatened to exist outside of the far corners behind her eyes. She felt her hands begin to ball up, her throat tightening as it pleaded for an outburst of words.

Everything hurt then, just as before. And Marco didn’t want to regret her decision to come here. She would have nothing left then.

" _ NO! _ DON'T CALL ME THAT ANYMORE!" 

And as quickly as the words bubbled out of her heavy chest, they had all but violently thrown into the quiet expanse of Tom’s bedroom. It had been like coming up for air, in the moment, after an entire morning of feeling like she had been under unforgiving waters.

Marco froze in a state of shock, unable to have kept herself from lashing out emotionally, chocolate brown eyes growing wide with the realization. All of those boiling over emotions in her chest that was now pouring out over the cliff’s edge she’d been standing at quickly became one of Tom's lava pits, hot and freely flowing.

It made her want to run away all over again.

But it  _ wasn't  _ his fault. Tom didn't know.  _ Nobody  _ knew and that was her own fault. And while the situation before her presented itself a perfect opening from the moment Tom complimented on her outfit, Marco hadn't been able to help herself. Her eyebrows drew in tightly together, a cornered and upset look spreading across her face, matched with cheeks that were growing increasingly red and brown eyes looking quickly away from three red-violet ones staring right back at her.

_ Dude, man, him, mijo, bro  _ . . . it had already been more than enough in the last two weeks, the entire year before aside. And if any time was as good as any, well, why wouldn't now have been the time? Only . . . it didn't quite come out like Marco had hoped.

So much for keeping your plans actually planned out, huh?

Tom jerked back, completely and suddenly caught off guard by Marco's outburst. "Oh-- Okay," the demon relaxed his stance and scratched the back of his head, suddenly feeling awkward and confused. While Marco could get frustrated easily and have random outbursts of such frustration, this was something else entirely. Something out of the ordinary for Tom in all the time that they had known each other, and it scared him a little bit.

However, that  _ didn't  _ mean he wasn't going to own up to his mistakes, even if he didn’t fully understand what exactly he’d said to make Marco lash out. But that was definitely something Brian had taught him to do well over the last two years. 

"I'm sorry. I'm not really sure what I did but . . . hey, how's about we take some deep breaths, huh? I was just about to head out to grab some lunch if-if you wanna come with?"

While Tom had taken a step back towards Marco as he spoke, he made sure that both hands were kept to himself. He didn't want to make physical contact right away since he wasn’t sure why his friend was so upset, but the urge to wrap an arm around her or pat her shoulder was almost unbearable. 

The question of _ why are you here, what’s wrong? _ was also hot on his mind, but that could wait. It wasn't like Marco popping in was unusual to begin with, but something was definitely different and it was burning on Tom’s mind all the same.

"Geez, uh," Marco, rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes, swallowing the tears way back down into the pit of her stomach. "I didn't mean to burst out like that, it's . . . it's been a tough few weeks, and I just - it just came out. I've . . . I guess I've just been kind of holding that in for a little too long and I got . . . "

She sighed again, this time letting a breath out while running a hand through her hair. After a few seconds, Marco nervously averted her gaze back onto her friend. "Sure. Lunch . . . sounds great. I think I could use that. I kind of didn’t touch my cereal this morning. I may, uh, have walked to school with Star and then bailed. . .it’s- it’s kind of a long story."

"Don't worry about it, I totally know how that is," Tom offered a sympathetic smile before crossing over to the other side of his bedroom to grab the scissors that had escaped Marco’s grasp in her tumble. "This is coming from the guy who  _ literally  _ lights on fire when he's mad, so that was nothing. A little confusing, but I think you’ll get around to explaining in your own time." 

Tom looked down at the scissors, taking in its color and crest with a small smile spreading across his face. Handing the scissors back to Marco, Tom offered a soft look. "I know this great place where we can just sit down and you know, talk. And don't worry, it has food you can eat. I mean...well, you eat the same stuff as Mewman's right?”   
  
He paused with eyebrows drawn in tight and a finger on his chin before shrugging with a soft laugh. “You know what, it'll be fine."

Marco smiled softly as she took the scissors back. She took a moment to look them over in her hands before looking back up at Tom, cheeks bright red, biting down on her lip.

"I'm kind of no good at these . . .  _ still  _ . . . do you think we could take your uh, you know? Ride?" While that wasn’t a complete lie, she did obviously struggle with them from time to time as Tom had seen just minutes ago, but with her trembling fingers and wandering mind. It would be better to lay off the scissors for now.

Tom’s eyes lit up and his excitement showed at the suggestion of using his precious carriage. "Oh, sure! Your chariot awaits," Tom said with a bow. A wheel in his brain began to move and before he could truly think on it, he quickly added  _ "M'lady" _ to the end.

With the snap of his fingers and a burst of flames, the chariot appeared in the middle of Tom's room with two skeletal horses at the front. A familiar and welcoming sight for Marco, who felt herself relax slightly.

But after a split second of clarity, she froze again for the second time, Tom's genuine and sweet sounding  _ "M'lady" _ wrapping itself around her entire body until it enveloped her in a tight hug that she never wanted to be free from. She didn't know if he had done it on purpose from her outburst or not, but it didn’t matter.

Tom had  _ said  _ it regardless of what the context was, and it was more than enough to boost her confidence by a short mile, confirming her choice to run away to the Underworld that much more affirming.

"They know where to go," Tom said, going to open the door with smooth graciousness and another bow. Another portal had already been opened in front of the carriage that would lead them out from the Underworld, taking Marco further away from the home she had left behind that morning.

Truth be told, Marco knew she’d made the right choice by coming to Tom. Out of all the people in her life, this was the choice that would see itself through, and the choice that seemed to be absolutely the right one. She simply couldn’t explain why, but she had trusted that feeling  _ this  _ far.

Marco would have never guessed it in all the time she'd known Tom that she would be here today, but they had always remained close friends. She trusted him a lot more than when they had first met, and over time they had shared plenty of soul-bearing moments and secrets together. They could share this, too. 

And maybe then, Marco could finally be ready for the rest of the big, scary world waiting for her back home.


	6. Her Closet's Such A Mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “Dirty Laundry” by All Time Low)
> 
> Ashfkljlkg it'S TIMMME!!! Oh my godsh it's time, it's time, it's time! This is one of the chapters I have absolutely been WAITING for! Things are about to get SO GOOD for Tom and Marco!
> 
> Enjoy, & happy reading! ♥

Tom was patient with Marco and knew that he would have to be. There was obviously something bothering her, something  _ big,  _ and the demon prince knew without a doubt that he just needed to let her take her time and settle inside before they set off on the short journey. 

There were quite a few places they could go for food, but Tom had a feeling Marco wouldn't want to go anywhere crowded. So a pie shop-slash-diner in Mewni seemed just right; nothing big or fancy, just a little cottage looking place that sold great sandwiches and phenomenal pies. However, before they would arrive, Tom took the opportunity to sit beside Marco, arms folded over his chest and one leg crossed over the other casually.

Beside him, Marco was quiet as she sat down and leaned fully back against the plush velvet seating behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Tom had scooted closer with a concerned look, though his body language was nothing but relaxed. 

What Marco hadn’t expected was Tom’s equally matched concerned tone asking the question that she had been waiting so long for  _ someone  _ to ask her.

"Hey uh, listen, Marco. You don't have to talk if you don't want to but . . . are you alright?"

Marco looked away from her portal view out the window towards Tom for a brief moment, as if his voice had distracted her from a long train of messy thoughts. The feeling of heat returned to her cheeks, and with it a deep red blush spread across her cheeks once again.

She leaned her head back against the cushions, eyes fixed on the blood red roof of the chariot above them with both hands tucked in her hoodie’s single front pocket. Fingers drummed anxiously against each other as she thought over her words carefully.

"Do you ever feel like . . . like you have something that you know you need to talk about, but you're too afraid to? And you have no idea  _ why  _ you're afraid to? Because you know the people in your life care about you and love you no matter what, but your head is just so . . .  _ full.  _ Filled with all of these doubts and worries, all the time. And then everything just kind of keeps building in your chest? Then you feel like you're a pot of boiling water on the stove and no matter how many times you check in on it or lower the temperature on the stove, it just keeps boiling and boiling until it starts to spill out everywhere and by then? You just get overwhelmed. So you keep it to yourself, and eventually . . . "

Marco paused after taking in a deep breath at the end of her mini-rant, shifting her gaze back to Tom while tossing her hands carefully in the air as she continued on.

"Eventually you run away, and you had all of this planned out, but now the plan is kind of just doing its own thing. And- and you just don’t feel  _ right  _ inside, and you're angry and frustrated at everyone for treating you one way, but it's not their fault. Because you didn't tell them. Because," she sighed softly, now leaning her head against the window. "Because you're just too afraid to find out how they’ll react. What if you're wrong, and it's everything you hoped it wouldn't be. Even though some part of you deep down knows that's not true."

Tom listened carefully, allowing Marco to talk for as long as she needed to. By the time she was done, he had leaned back in his seat, staring up at the dark ceiling. He tried to think of the right words, but nothing comforting was coming to him. At least nothing that he knew Marco probably  _ wanted  _ to hear. 

"Damn," Tom finally said, crossing his arms behind his head. "That's...That's pretty heavy." He then looked to her, all three of his eyes full of curiosity and concern. "Marco, let me ask you something. Did-did you . . . run away to  _ me _ ?"

Marco felt her heart skip a couple of beats, a small smile actually tugging at the corners of her mouth seemingly both genuine and adorable. She even let out a cute little half-hearted laugh, head lifting away from the window to look over back at Tom.

"Well, not  _ exactly _ . Running away from my house was the first plan. And I decided I was going to that after I got onto school grounds. Once I knew I was able to slip away from school, I just kind of started walking. And I walked until I hit the outer limits sign for Echo Creek. . ."

She paused for a moment, eyebrows drawn together, warm brown eyes looking away from the prince and down at her feet. "But then, I guess, yeah. I  _ did  _ run away to you. Because I'm afraid of talking to Star. I'm afraid of talking to my parents. And Jackie. And Janna. Funny, though, I almost made it through talking to Oskar once, but then I got nervous and he got distracted with a new tune, so it kind of ended up backfiring some. I don't know why, but I just . . . I knew I could talk to you."

Marco felt the heat creep across her cheeks and onto her ears, eyes peering out from under her bangs to look at Tom. She bit down on her bottom lip, swinging one of her legs up to cross over her lap. “I felt like I could trust you. And I can’t explain why.”

"Wow," Tom looked ahead with wide eyes before breaking out into an even wider smile. "Well, I am  _ honored  _ that you would come to me. I know I'm not typically anyone's first choice but. . ." Tom fixed his smile on her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I really am here for you, Marco. Just tell me what you need, and we’ll tackle it together."

He gazed at her for a moment, eyes full of fondness and third eye half lidded. Tom felt his chest begging, wanting to say more to her in that moment. It felt as though Marco  _ needed  _ to hear more, but before Tom could get any further questions to go from his brain and out of his mouth, the chariot slowed to a stop. Outside, the skeleton horses whinnied to alert them that they’d arrived at their destination.

Marco smiled softly at Tom as their ride stopped. Relief was already starting to flow out of her chest like a shaken up bottle of soda, just waiting for the fizz to be released through the cap a little at a time.

Truth was, Marco believed Tom with her whole heart. Even after just a couple of quick releases, she was already feeling a lot better about this whole idea, even  _ if  _ it wanted to veer extremely off track. "I know you are. And . . . well, thanks. Already. For you know. Asking me if I needed to talk. Or wanted to. You know."

"Hey come on now, what are friends for?" Tom beamed, standing up from his seat. "So, if you want to run away and hang with me for a while, then I'm with you. No matter what." He ended his statement by holding a hand out for her, making sure she knew they were in this together. 

"Now, I know I might be a demon, but I still need food and you  _ definitely  _ do."

Marco laughed for real this time as she slowly took Tom's hand into her own, the sound lifting right up out from her chest in the sweetest way. It was the first genuine laugh she'd managed to let out that actually felt good in the last two weeks. It felt, for lack of a better term, just like old times again.

Something new in Tom’s chest arose as Marco laughed and their hands touched. A quick pounding in his chest that he hadn't felt in quite some time. The feeling kept a smile on his face as he carefully led Marco out of the chariot and inside the pie shop. His fingers lingered against her soft, dark skin as they let go once they reached inside, though his heart for whatever reason it may be, longed for that touch to last forever.

The inside of this white and purple cottage restaurant was small and charming, decorated with a few of the Butterfly family crests and other assortments of Mewni culture. Tom was quick to suggest sitting in the far back, where a tiny but comfortable booth sat, so they would have some privacy. Once seated on the fluffy, lace pink and blue cushions, Tom called over a waitress to get their order out of the way so they would have more time to themselves.

Marco had never been here before, and once they had walked inside, she found it to be nothing but calming and cute. Tom had been right about its definite cozy and quiet vibe, just the spot that she needed to get away to. There weren't a lot of people around, which she was grateful for, and they had a window seat which made this little booth spot all the more comforting.

She rested her chin into her open palm thoughtfully while Tom tracked down a waitress, her eyes set out the window in a far-away, drifting gaze. Her thoughts were starting to come back to haunt her, and for a split moment, she almost thought about running away again. 

It was turning back into an Oskar-type situation very quickly, and Marco hadn’t even  _ begun _ to fill Tom in on everything. This was just step one, and she was already afraid of it.

"So," Tom spoke once he was done with the waitress, leaning over the table on his elbows. "I know this place isn't the usual, uh, style we all go for but," he paused, glancing out the window along with Marco with a distant smile, as if recalling a memory. "I would come here with Star a lot when we needed to talk. Ya know, about heavy stuff? So I figured you might like it too."

"Oh," Marco felt herself tear away from her thoughts and looked around, a soft smile slowly making its way back onto her face. Black glittery nails slowly drummed against the pink and white checkered table between them as she set her sights back towards Tom.

Her heart was pounding against her chest and along with it, the pulse beating loudly in her ears. She wasn't sure if Tom could hear it over the chattering of other patrons, but it didn't matter. "Yeah," she smiled again, this time  _ at  _ Tom instead of wistfully avoiding eye contact. "I do like it."

"Great!" Tom beamed, placing his hands on the table, though he was starting to feel a little nervous if he was being honest with himself. 

Whatever was bothering Marco seemed serious. Serious enough that she hadn't gone to Star, to her parents, or even to any of her Earth friends about it. Not to mention she apparently was running away to begin with.  _ That _ even in of itself was a big deal, and while Tom felt special enough that Marco would even consider running off to see  _ him _ , he was also anxious. He just hoped Marco wasn't in any kind of trouble that he wouldn’t be able to help with.

With a clear of the throat, Tom kept the conversation going, trying to remember things Brian had told him. They may not work the same for Marco, but it was always worth a try in any case. 

"But uh, if you need to open up about something. I'm all ears. And you know . . . eyes," Tom added that last part with a wink of his third and left eye, clasping his hands back together on the table.

Marco smiled again, but it was quick and short lived. It fell almost  _ immediately _ the moment her phone began to incessantly buzz over and over again on the table, to the right of her now-tightly-clasped hands. Notification messages popped up in droves from Star and Jackie, both of them asking where she was, and if they should be worried and contact her parents. The sickening blow returned to her chest, making it feel like a weight had slowly begun to sink down into the pit of her stomach once again, dragging her back under choppy, violent waters.

Tom watched as Marco's phone bounced around on the table. He looked away from it, all three eyes back on Marco only to notice how horrified she looked, almost damn near tears if he had to guess. It was enough to make Tom's demonic heart break in half, his stomach twist up in worry for her. He had seen Marco in rough spots, but  _ this. _

Somehow, this was very different. 

Whatever it was that Marco was keeping locked up inside her chest and behind a closed, messy closet door had to have been more than enough to bring her to this current state in front of him. Tom wasn’t going to pretend to know what exactly it was Marco needed to sort through, but he  _ did  _ know that until she wrapped her hand around the handle and pulled the door open, it was going to continue to pile up into a mess so in over her head that it would eventually break that door into a thousand tiny pieces. 

Tom knew that he couldn’t bear to see it get to that point for her.

So with a slow and careful hand, Tom finally decided to reach over towards the phone and placed his hand over it. Holding a finger over the power button, his eyes looked back to Marco for approval. But judging by the downcast and sick-to-the-stomach look on her face, he didn't wait for any kind of answer from her before turning the phone off. 

Once he was sure the phone was off, Tom then flipped it over to hide the screen as an extra precaution. He then wordlessly folded his hands back together on the table and looked at Marco softly, ready to listen and not have her be disturbed for the time being.

"I'm digging myself a hole," Marco sighed quickly, seemingly more to herself than directly at Tom. Her shoulders slumped forward, head dropping down in between hands as her glittery nails gleamed off from the lights above their table while her fingers became entangled in her hair.

"I mean - thank you. For turning it off. I haven't been able to bring myself to answer them, or to just shut everything out all morning. And I know they're worried, they mean well, they're my best friends and they just want to know I'm okay and know what's going on but  _ why  _ is it so hard to talk to them? Why  _ should  _ it be that hard? Star's . . . Star's my BEST FRIEND. It just doesn't make any sense, Tom."

Tom found himself instinctively reaching for one of Marco's hands as she spoke and brought it down away from her face, gripping it tightly. Gazing for a moment at their near matching painted nails, Tom smiled to himself for a quick moment. "Listen, I don't know  _ exactly  _ what it is that you're going through, but there is nothing wrong with how you're feeling."

"You're scared, right? Even though you know she won't care, you're still scared it will ruin everything. Yeah, she's your best friend and yeah, she's also amazing and yeah, sometimes it feels like she knows you better than anyone else. . ." Tom paused to gaze out the window, watching as a few people of Mewni walked by, going about their everyday lives with looks of joy on their faces. "But, there's a lot of doubt too."

_ Of course _ . Tom would know some of these similar emotions more than anyone. He and Star used to date for fuck’s sake. Sure, there had been a lot of conflict here or there, and many times of uncertainty. Tom hadn't always been the best boyfriend, and Star hadn't always been the best, well, everything. They’d had their differences, but after a while, and a LOT of talking and time, things had worked out in the end.

Tom probably knew, better than anyone else in her life, what these feelings meant, no matter how different the context was. Being scared was just that: being scared. And along the lines of anger, Marco knew that Tom hid his own fears beneath all that. 

And her? She was piling grief and secrecy in a corner to mask the feeling of being scared. She was doing no better than Tom had once upon a time. Being scared was usually the underlying, real emotion always sneakily hiding under other emotions. Marco had not once thought about putting her little psychology methods in practice for herself. When, if ever, was she going to start taking her own advice for once?

"I hate being seventeen," Marco finally spoke with another sigh, her fingers securely wrapping themselves around Tom's without giving a second thought.

"Being a teenager  _ does _ suck sometimes, I’ll give you that," Tom agreed with a nod, feeling warmer than usual as their fingers intertwined. He leaned his head to the side, giving Marco a small and hopefully comforting smile. "But, even if it doesn't work out the way that you want it to, it's gonna be okay."

"You have no idea how badly I've been wanting to hear that from someone," Marco then let out another sigh, but this one seemed to be of pure relief, allowing her free hand to drop away from her head and back onto the table. 

She leaned back against her side of the plush booth, never letting Tom's hand go, currently living in the comfort it was giving her in that moment. She wasn't even that worried about if her cheeks turned into a red hot blush again. Her gaze was set back out the window, eyebrows drawing in tight together in thought. 

She had to word this right. The amount of times she'd rehearsed this over and over again in her head and in front of Star's mirror or in the bathroom mirror was insurmountable. She'd lost count of the daydreams she’d had of how it would go each time, but with different people. How it would go with Star. How it would end up with her parents. And how easy it  _ might  _ just be to say to Jackie.

But to Tom? That's one interaction that Marco hadn't exactly tried to prepare for. So maybe, just maybe, that's what ended up making this that much easier.

She hadn't had the time to  _ overthink  _ it with Tom.

"Look, Tom, I. . ." Marco found her fingers tightening, trembling in between the demon prince’s as she started to speak. 

It was coming out very slowly, at first. But then Marco found it was as if she was taking the zipper on her chest in her hands and yanking it down until everything that had been locked up had begun to spill out onto the table between them.

It was easier to tell Tom. Because she didn't have time to  _ think  _ about telling Tom like she did with everyone else. She didn't practice it. She never dwelled on it. She never imagined it in her head like a movie reel she kept playing. Not once, did Marco imagine Tom's reaction or assume it.  _ That _ , she decided, was what made this so much easier in the end.

"I don't think . . . that I'm a boy."


	7. (I Have) Emotional Motion Sickness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Songs for this chapter: “Motion Sickness” by Phoebe Bridgers, “Everybody Loves You” by SOAK, “Avalanche” by FLETCHER, & “I Must Cry Out Loud” by Mother Mother)
> 
> oH BOY how's Tom going to react to the news? And what's ahead for our poor, scared Earth princess?
> 
> Enjoy & happy reading! ♥

Everything seemed to stop and fall silent. Tom had kept all of his eyes on Marco, which then slowly had begun to widen as soon as those words left her mouth. 

In all honesty, he wasn't sure  _ what  _ to feel right now; it wasn’t like he was surprised, but at the same time, he was. However, as the silence resumed between them, Tom quickly realized that he needed to talk before Marco would think the worst of this situation. The best way to start was with a smile and it came to him easy, relief washing over him. Marco wasn't in trouble. She hadn't gotten way in over her head. Granted, of course, this was still a big deal, but suddenly all the concern was replaced with a brand new feeling.

Suddenly, it all made sense, and Tom now  _ fully  _ understood what exactly Marco was going through. But it was going to be a lot easier for him to pull through being on the other end of it all than it would be for her. But Tom was willing to bet that once she got everything off her chest, the ease would relieve itself in time, and he would see her shine brighter than any sun, star, moon, or planet in the sky.

That much, Tom could say from experience, was the best feeling in the world once the time came.

"Marco. That-that's, wow that's so great!" Tom said, a warm laugh escaping him. He tried not to seem like a lunatic, placing his palm to his temple as more laughter came. "I just--I guess I always somehow figured, but--Gosh. To be honest for a second there, I-..I thought you were like,  _ dying _ or something. Oof, wow. . . “

While at first, Tom didn't say anything and once again that all too familiar pang of panic began to surge through Marco's chest. It felt heavy, like a boulder that couldn’t be lifted. She once again thought about running, assuming that this plan ended up being one giant mistake and she had just presented herself an absolute fool in front of the demon prince.

But then Tom smiled, and she noticed it out of the corner of her eye. And that made Marco tear her eyes away from the window, in the hopes that she hadn’t simply just been seeing things. But in doing that also forced herself to look right at Tom, anxiously waiting for the rest of the reaction to follow. 

And suddenly, Tom spoke. With a genuinely relieved laugh, a bright smile, and even brighter words to follow. It was as if he’d known all along, or at the very least, suspected it enough that it didn’t shock him into silence.

That alone made Marco feel lighter than she had been in months.

Yet at the same time, it seemed as though Tom thought that she was in far more trouble that she was letting on. Marco felt her heart rise back up in her chest and into her throat, a small smile coming to her face, and shortly after that, light laughter of her own.

She really had been overthinking this whole thing to the point people were starting to worry about the  _ wrong  _ thing. She was going to owe so many apologies after all of this was over, but that would be more than okay with her.

After a hearty fit of laughter from both sides of the table, the waitress returned to give them their drinks and an estimated time for their lunch. Once she was gone again, Tom was already sipping down most of his soda, feeling much lighter as a hundred or so questions buzzed around in his head.

All of which were questions he was already very familiar with, and wanted to get out to her. At the very least, she would need a little more preparation for coming out to everyone else, and most  _ anything  _ could and would be asked. He wanted to give her a shot at it, but Tom also knew not to overwhelm her right away. She’d been  _ this  _ anxious running away and telling him, so he knew that the rest would fall in line slowly.

"So how long have you known? Or actually should I just let you talk?" He asked with another short laugh, finding one of his hands still held tightly with Marco's and not really wanting to let go. They were having a moment and it was nice. 

Really nice.

She had wrapped her free hand slowly around the cold glass of pink lemonade that she'd ordered, letting her thoughts wander for a moment before answering. In all of her travels with Star, nowhere had as good lemonade as Mewni did. Unmatched, and absolutely unargued with. 

"Well, I, ah . . .honestly I didn't think this far," Marco admitted before taking in a few sips. "I've been spending all this time trying to cover myself up, flinching at words that didn't used to bother me before. Trying to rehearse how I would tell everyone, and . . . I_… I don’t know, I guess I just never actually got to the questions part. Or how to answer them. Or what the questions actually would  _ be _ ."

Marco frowned then for a moment, but it was a different frown than the ones from before. "I guess I really have been way overthinking all of this, haven't I?"

"Probably," Tom said as he began sipping his drink again before propping his elbow up on the table, leaning his head against his free hand. "But, I guess that  _ is  _ the Marco we all know and love."

He then paused, squinting his eyes as he thought over his words for a moment. "Unless . . . you wanted to go by a different name? But you know what I mean."

Marco felt her cheeks grow hot again, knowing already that she was blushing. Lightly drumming her fingernails against the drink in her hand that made soft sounding  _ clinks _ against the glass, Marco let out a soft hum before tilting her head in thought.

"You know what? I actually haven’t thought much about that, either. But so far, it kinda seems to be the only thing about old me left that  _ isn't  _ bothering me. And I can't explain why."

"I mean that's totally fine," Tom shrugged with a grin, dropping his hand back onto his drink. "It's all up to what makes you happy, you know? It’s not a linear situation, everyone’s different."

Marco looked down again for a second in thought before tightening the grip around her glass of lemonade in anxiousness. "Can I ask you, something Tom? Or . . . more like several things?"

Tom finished sipping down the rest of his soda with an eager nod. He wanted to help her the best that he knew how, even though he knew that this was going to be a journey of Marco’s own self discovery in the long run. He didn’t have all the answers she probably wanted, and he wasn’t going to pretend that he did. But what Tom  _ did _ know was that he was her best friend, and all crushes aside, he knew that he wanted to be there for her every step of the way. That is, if she’d have him. 

"Sure! But, I can't promise you that I have all the answers. Remember: this is  _ your _ story, and only you can write it, you know."

“Yeah. That makes sense,” Marco nodded slowly in agreement before her gaze settled back down onto the table before her. Suddenly she took back the hand that had been in Tom’s, gripping it around her glass with fingers locking in together. “And to be honest, I don’t think right now that  _ I _ even have all the answers. I, ah, mean . . . obviously. Or I wouldn't be here right now.”

“Tom . . . you- you’re not going to see me as any different are you? You won’t treat me different? You don’t . . .  _ won’t _ , think of me differently? I mean I guess maybe I kinda want to know your feelings? I’ve been so busy thinking about and replaying how I was going to do this with everyone else and what their emotions would be and how they would react either positively or not but . . . you? I - I didn’t even consider what that would be like. To-to tell you and not have any expectations or assumptions. I never practiced telling you in the mirror like I did for everyone else. I never . . . - never once thought about what it would be like to tell you. And I think that’s why this entire plan of running away and coming to you was so easy. I don’t have expectations of you or from you. But everyone else . . .”

Marco’s voice drifted off again, her gaze set out the window as both of her hands drummed black glittery painted nails against the glass in a rapid melody. “Everyone else . . . well, they do.”

Tom blinked all three eyes in surprise for a second, though he knew better than to have been surprised at all of  _ that _ . They were logical questions, ones that made sense to him for her to ask. He didn’t want to come off as knowing full well about how  _ everyone else _ would handle this situation, but then he reminded himself that Marco wasn’t asking that.

She wanted to know how  _ he _ would treat her. And while they didn’t have the best history, they’d gotten closer over the years and he considered her his best friend. Tom stared down at the table, unsure at first of his own words before he let out a deep breath. 

"No, Marco. I don't see you as any different. I mean, I guess I sorta do, but not in the ways you think," the demon prince wasn't entirely sure if he could give an accurate explanation if he tried, so he just focused on keeping his head clear. This was harder than it looked, and he wondered how it had come so easy for everyone in  _ his _ life. 

"It's a good thing. I don't plan on acting any differently around you or treating you different, because YOU haven't changed. YOU are still my best friend and you're still Marco. No matter what changes on the outside,” Tom smiled confidently her way, propping his head against a hand.

"What I'm trying to say is, I know this wasn't a sudden thing. This has been you forever, but now I'm seeing the  _ real  _ you in front of me, and I’m aware of it. So I  _ can _ make the proper changes that make you feel more comfortable without changing everything that I feel, see, or think of you. If that makes sense."

Marco nodded slowly, her attention and gaze focused back into the restaurant but staring down at the table. The back of her subconscious began to count the number of checkered squares in order to keep the anxiety at bay while Tom talked. And while there was a lot that Tom had pointed out that made sense in a jumbled up teenage mess-of-words-kind of way, there was also a lot of resonance to it.

Almost as if Tom knew firsthand the experience in all of this.

But as hard as this was on  _ her  _ end, she hadn't considered the possibility of how any of this could work for everyone else. It felt a little selfish, at first, but Marco knew that she needed to be the first person on her mind before anyone else. She was never going to get through this if she didn’t think of and then meet her needs before everyone else’s.

Silent in thought, Marco drummed her fingernails once more against her lemonade glass, the soft little _ tinks  _ filling the wordless space across the table between an understanding demon prince and a very scared teenage girl.

"And Star? I mean . . . I know by now after two plus years that I should know her pretty well, but you've had an entire lifetime before me with her. I guess if I’m gonna ask anyone about an opinion on her thoughts and reactions, it should be you."

"I mean, that is true," Tom laughed in good humor, glancing down at his drink that was now mostly ice, beginning to then stir it around with his straw. This wasn't a  _ hard  _ question to answer, but Tom wasn't completely sure how she would  _ react _ . He knew Star would support Marco, no matter the circumstances. But that was the problem:  _ he _ wasn’t Star. And even though he knew her well enough, there was no guidebook to this kind of thing. Even though Star tended to get overly excited from time to time, Tom knew that very well could be a good thing, but it could also be overwhelming.

Only, he wasn’t  _ absolute _ in his thinking or in the answer Marco was looking for. Star was the only person in the universe who could answer for herself. But he was going to at least try to leave Marco with  _ some _ food for thought.

"I think," Tom started, finding himself lost in the hopeful look in Marco's eyes. She looked desperate for an answer, but he knew that he couldn't completely give it to her. He wasn't Star and even though he  _ did  _ know Star for as long as he had, Tom knew that he wouldn’t be able to anticipate how she would be or react. Because unfortunately, as everyone learned to find out, the thing about Star was that everything she did was to be unexpected. 

"I think the best way to find out  _ is  _ to just tell her," Tom spoke carefully, placing his hand on the table towards Marco. "I know she won't react in a bad way, but I can't give you all the answers."

"I was afraid of that," Marco sighed again, but nodded anyway. "Thanks, though. Just, I mean . . . in general. You let me talk, you listened, and you let me get it out. And I don’t think you need me to tell you that I've been kinda hiding away from everyone for a while, just trying to get myself set in the right direction. I think I might have done the opposite, though."

She smiled then, slowly at first, and let it linger for a little while, a then quickly confused look filled her eyes with eyebrows pulled tightly together. The silence filled up the space between them once more as Marco finished off her drink before speaking softly, the heaviness returning back into her tone. 

"When did the world get so. . ." Marco tossed her hand up in the air trying to find the right word with her gaze set back out the window.

"Complicated?" Tom offered with a smile and raised brow. He wasn't sure if that was the word she was looking for, but he gave it anyways. If it wasn’t right, he knew that Marco would let him know. These  _ were  _ her feelings and her moment, after all.

Marco dropped her hand onto the table with a heavy sigh as the first word that popped into her head came around. It made so much sense, and left an aching in her chest that was painfully familiar. She kept her gaze fixed out the window as she propped her cheek up against a fist. She wanted to swallow the word down, but knew it would only further the muddled mess in her head if she didn't let it out.

"No.  _ Big  _ . . ." the words came out softly, just above a whisper that exited her mouth instead of sitting atop the mountainous pile of things to get off her chest.

Tom nodded with a knowing look in all three of his eyes; it was one of those things that he understood completely. With as much sweetness as a friend can give, he took her hand again and held it tight. Even if she didn't look at him, he still smiled, soft and certain.

"I guess it doesn't help that you've been to so many different worlds, huh?" Tom laughed, subconsciously running his thumb across her hand. "But hey, you know that you don't have to do any of this alone, right?"

"Yeah. You have a point," Marco smiled lightly, her attention drawn back to the demon prince across the table. She was already feeling lighter, but there was still a lot to do.

Apologizing for running off and not answering her messages, for starters.

"Will you help me?" Marco asked quickly, as if the anxiety of everything laid out before her had gripped itself around her entire body again. Her grip around Tom's hand tightened, which only further confirmed Tom’s suspicions about what had hit her just then in the moment. 

"I mean, I know it's like, not your life or your business, but I just - .. Tom, I need help. And I don't ask that enough. No matter how many times I tell Star it's okay to ask for help, and give her advice when she needs it, I pretty much have the worst time following my own advice. Like ninety percent of the time, actually."

"Woah, woah, don’t worry, Marco, just relax. Trust me, I've been there," Tom let out a short laugh, smiling supportively in her direction. 

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he leaned both arms onto the table towards her. Tom  _ needed  _ Marco to know that he was here for her in the long run. No matter what it took, and no matter what road she led herself down. "Don't worry so much. I got your back, Marco. Every single step of the way."

There it was; so simply said, but it had meant so much. They were the words that Marco had been wanting to hear for so long, and here they were now, right in front of her. From Tom, of all people. Marco felt as though another brick had been tossed from her chest. 

She grinned slowly, unable to tear her eyes away from Tom’s, feeling the warmth return to her cheeks as she spoke. "You know what? I never thought I'd see the day where I'd say I was kind of glad to have run away. Or that I’d be asking  _ you _ for help on something so . . . monumental as this is."

Marco paused then for a moment, taking her hand back from Tom's and settling her chin in between both of her own hands with elbows propped up on the table. "Actually, come to think of it. I don't think I have ever thought about actually running away before. I mean, come on! That’s just  _ asking  _ for danger."

Tom laughed, this time loud and full. A genuine laugh, having to wipe a tear from his two lower eyes. That was just so adorable, and showed Tom even more that not only was Marco  _ not _ going to change just because her outside was, but that she had always been such a cute nerd. 

"Wow, looks like I’ll have to start calling you _Princess_ Goody Two-Shoes from now on!"

"You know what?" Marco beamed, her eyes damn near sparkling at the thought as a light pink blush crept its way back onto her cheeks. “That actually doesn't sound so bad, you know."

"Oh?" Tom leaned on the table, a very warm and inviting smile spreading across his face. "I got plenty more, you know. Maybe not as influential as  _ Princess Turdina _ , but I mean I can get by."

"Oh, please," Marco laughed with a gentle scoff and the shake of her head. She leaned back against her seat with both arms folded over her chest, looking more relaxed than she had been so far today. 

The smile on her face was warm and real, the laugh that bubbled out of her genuine and full of the same Marco that everyone knew, and loved. She was coming around, in the moment, and it showed itself to Tom as brightly as all of the stars and moon combined.

Tom hadn't felt so close to Marco in quite some time. They hung out often, sure, but this was different. This was something more than arguing with each other, going out on group friend dates to the mall, or playing video games. This was special and it was extremely personal. 

It was hard to keep a smile off his face, even as their food was placed before them. And Tom couldn't seem to stop looking at Marco; she looked so much happier, more relieved than when she had fallen through the portal and snapped at him. It was almost like she was glowing. 

And it made Tom all the more curious for what was to come next, knowing that once she told others, Marco Diaz would be glowing brighter than ever before.


	8. Author's Note: UPDATES!

Hello, everyone!!!!   
  
So I just want to start off by saying a big "Thank you!" to everyone who has read, left Kudos, and commented on this fanfic even in my absence! I'm still very touched by emails I get saying that someone has left a Kudos or read & commented on this, even while I was away!  
  
Since most of you probably don't know my Twitter handle for updates, I wanted to put here that in the past two weeks I have been working on Chapters 8 through 11!!! I want to apologize for such a long wait since I dropped this last year. 2020 hit a lot of us really hard and in the midst of it all, I was not doing well enough to keep writing, even though I never lost the passion and love for this story. My mental/emotional & physical health took a nosedive that I hadn't anticipated, and there was just no way that I could bring myself to do even the most mundane of things, let alone write.  
  
But I'm BACK!!! And I'm doing much better this time! ( I am quote referencing a favorite TikToker of mine xD ) ... and my plan right now is to get ALL of the rest of my chapters written & edited on Docs before posting! ( There's also quite a few TAG CHANGES ; especially since me & my wife have been using the name 'Margo' in all of our current roleplays & story ideas/plots, so be on the lookout for that changing in this fic as well after all!!! )  
  
This process ensures that I get the rest of the fic FINISHED, and that I can run through those chapters again to add or take away things, and make sure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors in general! I've been really excited about getting up, making coffee, & opening up my laptop to do some more of _Venus_! I had forgotten how much I loved this story that me & my wife worked on together when 2020 began to take a nosedive, as well as seeing how much of a positive impact it had on so many of my readers!♥

Right now, I don't have any other BIG fanfiction plans for SVTFOE (or any other fandoms right now), but who knows! I may get inspiration later on, and have something for you guys another time! (I'm trying really hard not to get writing burn out, either so I don't drop things again for months at a time as well).  
  
But anyway, I wanted to update everyone here in the event any of you don't follow me on Twitter or Instagram! More is coming, & I promise you it's going to be a happy happy ending!!! Thank you again to everyone who has read, Kudos'd, commented, & has CONTINUED to do so even when I had to make a huge drop off last year. I appreciate every single one of you, as this was one of my biggest fanfics to write since things went sour for me in another fandom in 2017-18. I miss writing big things, when I have the right mind and energy to do so, & I was so very very very excited about this fic being not only my very first _big_ SVTFOE fanfic, but also bringing into characterization and love to the trans Marco idea as well as progressing on Tom & Marco's relationship into something more.  
  
Anywho, back to writing! Again, I want to express my deepest thank you's and appreciation for the patience everyone has showed me, and all of the support as well! I truly hope that you all enjoy the rest of this story as much as me & my wife have worked on it! If you'd like to keep up with any updates from here on out before I begin to post, my Twitter handle is **catnip_coffee** (same on Insta)!  
  
And as always,  
  
Enjoy, & happy reading!♥


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